Flowering Plants of Africa
Flowering Plants of Africa is a series of illustrated botanical magazines. It began in 1920 as Flowering Plants of South Africa, started by I. B. Pole-Evans. Today it is published by the South African National Biodiversity Institute in Pretoria. The magazine features flowering plants from Africa and nearby islands, with articles and plates that describe them.
Issues are printed in soft cover, about 250 by 190 millimeters. The first volumes were printed in England by L. Reeve & Co. Early illustrations were black and white lithographs; later zinc plates replaced stone. A watercolor copy guided teams of hand-color artists who added color where needed. Hand-coloring was a family craft passed down through generations. Occasionally, single-color printing was used to speed up production, especially during World War II when skilled hand-color artists were in short supply.
Notable botanists who contributed include Anna Amelia Obermeyer and Josef Bogner. Notable botanical artists include Kathleen Annie Lansdell, Gillian Condy, Fay Anderson, Auriol Batten, Rosemary Holcroft, Betty Connell, Cythna Letty (who produced over 700 plates), Barbara Pike, and Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst.
Editors over the years were I. B. Pole-Evans (1921–1939), Edwin Percy Phillips (1940–1944), Robert Allen Dyer (1945–1964), and L. E. W. Codd.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:56 (CET).